Place Names in Poe’s Creative Writings

Burton R. Pollin

The City of University of New York, Bronx Community College

It did not seem feasible to include the various proper nouns and adjectives of a primarily geographical nature in my Dictionary of Names and Titles in Poe’s Collected Works (New York: Da Capo,
1968); a third category would have swelled a book already large enough. Yet, there is need for such a list, encompassing not only place
names but also ethnic, racial, and religious groupings. An addendum to the Dictionary is herewith offered, covering only the
creative writings of Poe, since a separate booklet would be required if all the criticism and essays were included. This list will
enable the student of Poe to take note of the wide scope of his geographical references, his interesting and sometimes significant uses
of local geography (see Saratoga) at particular points in his life, and the recurrence of place names (see Arnheim). It will help to
fill out the extent of his classical learning and interest in travel and provide other insights into Poe’s complex mind.

The material comes entirely from the five volumes of the James A. Harrison edition (New York: Crowell, 1902), devoted
to Poe’s fiction (II-VI), plus a superior substitute for the Poems in Volume VII, namely, Volume I, called Poems, of
The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by the late T. O. Mabbott (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1969). In my
list, the fiction is designated simply by a volume number followed by a page number inserted after a period. When the number of a volume
changes, a semicolon replaces the separating commas. To designate the Poems, I have used a capital letter “P” without
any period to avoid confusion with the standard abbreviation for page. Except for “Melonta Tauta,” Poe’s form of all
the proper names is used, with no editing on my part (e.g., Cape Verde Islands and Presburg). I have, however, frequently inserted a
slight indication of the nature of a reference, in parentheses, especially for rivers, lakes, islands, and tribes, when not
self-evident; “The Journal of Julius Rodman” provided most of these entries. Language groupings, most of which have a
geographical source, such as French, Indian, Russian, are included, as well as street names and prominent buildings. The nautical
locations known as ships, whether real or fictitious, are all listed with the word “ship” in parentheses. Since I aimed to
include all references in Poe’s text, the footnotes from his tale of “Scheherazade” were culled. In general,
mythological place names and fanciful coined names are inserted, such as “Vondervotteimittis” and Phlegethon, but the place
names for wines are omitted. To indicate Poe’s use of a specific setting — provided that it be mentioned even once — I
inserted a few or all of the instances given in a tale and followed this with inclusive [column 2:] page numbers (cf. Paris and
Rouen). Since there are no cross references, different forms of the same name or allied names must be separately consulted (Aidenn and
Eden, Moslemin and Musselmen, Naples and Neapolitan), nor was it possible, in this limited space, to break down “American”
into adjective and noun. In general, the names of astronomical “places” are omitted, despite our ability today to pay calls
upon the moon. Almost all of these, except for “moon” and “sun,” can be found listed as names in my
Dictionary. A few named persons have crept into the following list as comprising part of a place-name designation, such as
“David (city of)” and “Tom, Dick, and Harry Streets.”

My gratitude must be expressed for clerical assistance and freedom from academic duties, needed to prepare this
glossary, to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Research Foundation of the City University of New York.